by Ron Miller

Content Management & CRM: Two Great Technologies that Taste Great Together

In my Editor's Corner this week on FierceContentManagement, I look at the connection between content management and customer relationship management (CRM). Several companies I've looked at in the last couple of weeks have products that connect to CRM tools and I don't think it's a coincidence.

Read my Editor's Corner and find out why.

Photo by Tomma Henckel

CRM Selection and Implementation Made Easy - Inside CRM

Link: CRM Selection and Implementation Made Easy - Inside CRM.

My latest InsideCRM article looks at how to choose and implement a CRM system successfully. I spoke to Brent Leary, who is co-founder and partner at CRM Essentials and he provided me with some great insight on how to move from selection through implementation. His thoughts were based on his experience implementing CRM tools, but in many ways, what he told me is applicable to any complex software implementation.

6 Technologies That Compliment CRM - Inside CRM

Link: 6 Technologies That Compliment CRM - Inside CRM.

I published an article this week for InsideCRM on 6 Technologies that Compliment CRM. CRM is just one piece in the enterprise software puzzle and if you can understand which pieces fit together, it can help your company work more efficiently, rather than maintaining each database as an information silo. This article looks at 6 software packages that work well with your CRM software.

Take CRM in Your Pocket - Inside CRM

Link: Take CRM in Your Pocket - Inside CRM.

My latest article for InsideCRM looks at Vaultus, a Boston-based software company that redesigns CRM (and other software) so that it operates on mobile devices. This is particularly useful for CRM as many sales people are on the road and having access to the CRM system on their mobile device means they can enter information right after a meeting while it's still fresh in their minds (and receive the most up-to-date information about their clients on the fly).

When Compliance Meets CRM - Inside CRM

Link: When Compliance Meets CRM - Inside CRM.

My latest post for InsideCRM looks at what happens when a company with compliance concerns needs CRM. The company, Hyperion, a start-up drug company, had even more complications because after federal approval they had to go to market in a very short time. In addition, they were selling a brand new drug in an untapped market so they needed a system that was flexible enough to adapt as their understanding of the market changed

Using Marketing Analytics to Slingshot Sales - Inside CRM

Link: Using Marketing Analytics to Slingshot Sales - Inside CRM.

My latest InsideCRM article looks at how you can use marketing analytics information in conjunction with sales to define a good lead and increase sales. By defining quality leads, it can provide a way for a company to manage the sales and marketing process better and help build more accountability into both parts of the sales ecosystem.

5 Steps for SMB to Get Started with Hosted CRM for InsideCRM

I published my latest InsideCRM article, 5 Steps for Small Businesses to Get Started with Hosted CRM. I talked to a couple of industry experts to learn best practices that a small business owner should consider when implementing a hosted CRM package.

Web 2.0: Your Company's Next CRM Secret Weapon for InsideCRM

I have a new article up on InsideCRM called Web 2.0: Your Company's Next CRM Secret Weapon. I spoke to William Band, a Forrester analyst about the potential of impact of Web 2.0 tools on CRM and Sales Force Automation.

Zoho Enterprise CRM Struggles for Attention on Daniweb Blog

My latest entry on my Daniweb.com Tech Treasures blog involves the struggles of Zoho to get attention for its online enterprise CRM tool in a busy tech news week. It even tried engaging Salesforce in a pissing match, but Salesforce wouldn't bite. Ultimately, it has to hope the tool can stand on its own merits.

Google and Salesforce Forge Formidable Partnership

On Monday, Google and Salesforce announced a partnership that could have a profound impact on both companies. Salesforce is going to offer Google Apps inside its Salesforce.com CRM tool.

The Beta News article I linked to obviously sees this as a direct answer to Microsoft's recent foray into delivering its Microsoft Dynamics tool as a software as a service. (I wrote about this in my InsideCRM article, Is Titan Right for Your Small Business? Titan was the code name for Microsoft Dynamics.).

IDC agrees that this is a shot over Microsoft's bow. In a recent IDC commentary on the matter, Salesforce and Google Form Symbiotic Relationship (primary author, Caroline Dangson; requires registration), Dangson writes, "With Google on its team, salesforce.com poses a greater threat to Microsoft, which is a competitor to both companies."

Whatever, the motivation, it obviously benefits both companies in dramatic ways. For Google, it gives them a way to sell Google Apps to a larger user base already familiar with software as a service (SaaS). For Salesforce, it gives them the complete package enabling your sales team to conduct all its business inside Salesforce and create presentations, contracts and correspondence without ever leaving the interface.

In the above-mentioned IDC commentary, author Dangson sees lots of positives:

The synergy between Google Apps and salesforce.com is obvious — the partnership marries business workflow (salesforce.com) with productivity applications (Google Apps) and unified communications (Gtalk). Together, the partnership offers an appealing solution for small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly for their field teams. Salesforce.com for Google Apps also leverages the Force.com platform and Google's open APIs, opening up even more opportunities for customers and partners to build vertical or custom solutions.

It's hard not agree with that assessment. On its face, this looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

The Microsoft MVP Summit is going on in Redmond this week. I can't imagine Microsoft is happy to have this announcement upstage its event or upset its carefully defined business plan. As I've written many times though, the Google-Microsoft dynamic is good for business ultimately because it forces each company to innovate and to act as a check on the other's power. While Google and Salesforce may well be seen as the winners, we as consumers also can breathe a sigh of relief that there is a force large enough to keep Microsoft's power in check. Advantage Google. Microsoft? Your move.